Germany, France Pick German Airbus CEO

Germany and France have buried the hatchet in the power struggle at the helm of EADS and agreed on the appointment of a German, Gustav Humbert, as the new head of plane maker subsidiary Airbus, the business daily Handelsblatt reported on Friday. Quoting sources close to the negotiations on both the French and German sides, the newspaper said that DaimlerChrysler, which represents German interests in the European Aeronautic Defense and

Space Company, had agreed with the French shareholders that Humbert would become the new Airbus chief. That would pave the way for Thomas Enders and Noel Forgeard, the current Airbus chief executive, to be officially named as new co-CEOs of EADS next week, the newspaper said. A leadership crisis broke out at EADS earlier this month after the aerospace giant's board of directors postponed at the annual general meeting in Amsterdam the official appointment of Forgeard and Enders as its new co-CEOs. The French and German shareholders, who each hold a 30 percent stake in EADS, had been unable to agree on the appointment of a successor to Forgeard at Airbus and on the national distribution of power within the group.